First Minister Humza Yousaf is facing legal action over the release of WhatsApp messages to the covid inquiry, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
Solicitors acting for bereaved families have demanded that the communications of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon, clinical director Jason Leitch and other key government figures are handed over. The messages of disgraced former chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood – who had to quit early in the pandemic over travel to a second home – are also wanted.
It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched an unprecedented legal battle to avoid having to disclose unredacted WhatsApps to a UK inquiry. The Scottish Government last night refused to confirm whether it had released a similar cache of messages from personal accounts and would only state information was being provided “wherever possible”.
Aamer Anwar, lead solicitor for the Scottish Covid Bereaved group, said: “This doublespeak needs to end. Have the WhatsApps and diaries been handed over or not? We will take whatever legal action is necessary to make sure all relevant WhatsApps, diaries and other digital communications such as Signal messages from key Scottish Government ministers and officials are provided.
“We need immediate clarity on what has been requested and what has been given. Just as is happening with the UK inquiry, the Scottish inquiry must demand full unredacted disclosures and we will be working to ensure that is the case.”
The demands from the families is contained in a letter to the chair of the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry, Lord Brailsford. Calls for access to the personal WhatsApp accounts of ministers have come after leaked messages from former UK health secretary Matt Hancock appeared to show covid policy being discussed and decisions taken using the app.
A total of 16,465 people in Scotland have died with covid since the outbreak began in March 2020 and separate public inquiries have been launched here and UK-wide. They are likely to focus on the decision-making process that resulted in thousands of care home deaths after infected patients were moved from hospitals into homes.
A letter seen by the Sunday Mail from Anwar’s office to Lord Brailsford, dated June 2, states: “Shockingly this March over 100,000 WhatsApp messages of the former health secretary Matt Hancock containing over 2.3million words were leaked. If what is contained within those texts is correct, it shows that ministers at the highest level were making decisions on handling the pandemic via WhatsApp.
“Ministers, of course, would have known that such messages cannot be requested by FOIs. On that basis, can you confirm whether full disclosure on the same terms requested of Mr Johnson, Mr Hancock and others has also been requested from the former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, Jeanne Freeman and other relevant Scottish ministers, as well as health officials such as Catherine Calderwood, Jason Leitch and Gregor Smith who had key roles. Can you advise whether there was any resistance to the request and, if so, on what basis?
“Furthermore, apart from the WhatsApp messages, can you advise whether other social media, notebooks and diaries have been requested? The families have asked us to place this request on public record. The families we represent believe that no individual, no matter how powerful, can be allowed to interfere with the pursuit of truth, justice and accountability by this inquiry – those who lost their lives to Covid-19 deserve nothing less.”
Anwar confirmed that First Minister Humza Yousaf’s own WhatsApp communications could also be relevant through his work as justice secretary during the pandemic. Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “Grieving families deserve answers about what went so tragically wrong during the pandemic and those in charge at the time owe them real transparency.
“The Scottish Government cannot break their promise to co-operate fully with the covid inquiry. Any attempt to withhold information or cover their tracks will be a betrayal of the same people they failed during the pandemic.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton called on Yousaf to release the material. He said: “Transparency and openness must be at the heart of Scotland’s covid inquiry and the Scottish Government must do everything in its power to comply with those guiding principles because families need answers.
“Last time the Scottish Government’s narrow and shallow pandemic exercise failed us badly but this inquiry can provide new hope for families of victims and lay down critical early learning for the future.”
When we asked the Scottish Government whether WhatsApp messages had been sought or handed over, a spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is co-operating fully with the Scottish and UK covid public inquiries and we support them in their work to explore the handling of the pandemic and to identify the vital lessons we all need to learn.
“We have provided material held and will continue to do so wherever possible. Extensive work has taken place to record key covid-related decisions and to ensure that information supporting and evidencing these decisions is shared with the inquiries.
“It is a matter for the independent inquiry chairs to make decisions about how they consider and, where appropriate, publish such material. We have established records management processes for recording decisions made by ministers and officials which form part of the Scottish Government corporate record.”
Sunak’s legal battle with the UK covid inquiry could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds – despite a minister admitting the Government is likely to lose. The estimate from a legal expert comes after the Prime Minister launched a judicial review to block requests from the inquiry chairwoman to hand over unredacted WhatsApp messages.
Baroness Heather Hallett’s demand relates to messages between ex-PM Boris Johnson and dozens of officials during the pandemic, including Sunak and cabinet ministers. Elkan Abrahamson, a solicitor and public inquiry expert who represents the Covid Bereaved group, said the legal fight cost to the taxpayer could run “well into six figures”.
As the covid public inquiry is publicly funded, it also means the taxpayer will foot the bill for both sides in the legal dispute – just weeks before the first major hearings begin. Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, taxpayers will rightly be outraged to be picking up yet another legal bill to pay for Rishi Sunak’s latest plot to obstruct the covid inquiry.”
On Friday, Johnson, who was ousted from No10 last summer, sidestepped the Cabinet Office and claimed to have sent “all unredacted WhatsApps” directly to the covid inquiry. The former PM told the inquiry’s chairwoman he would “like to do the same” with messages that are on an old mobile phone he stopped using due to security concerns.
The messages on the locked device refer to discussions from before May 2021 and are likely to relate to conversations about the three coronavirus lockdowns ordered in 2020.
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